Thunder with impressive display of offense in 5-2 defeat of Islanders.

The Minnesota Thunder continued their climb out of the basement of the USL standings with an exciting 5-2 victory over the visiting Puerto Rico Islanders. With the win, Minnesota slipped past struggling Miami FC in the standings and moved into 8th place, just one spot below the Vancouver Whitecaps who currently hold the 7th and final playoff spot in USL-1.

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Thunder with impressive display of offense in 5-2 defeat of Islanders.

The Minnesota Thunder continued their climb out of the basement of the USL standings with an exciting 5-2 victory over the visiting Puerto Rico Islanders. With the win, Minnesota slipped past struggling Miami FC in the standings and moved into 8th place, just one spot below the Vancouver Whitecaps who currently hold the 7th and final playoff spot in USL-1.

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The Minnesota Thunder, who have struggled all season to find goals, now have scored 6 in their last 3 games on the road. The Thunder never gave up and battled hard as they drew the game with the Rochester Rhino's, coming from behind in the 90th minute with a goal by Jeremiah Bass. The game ended as a 3-3 draw.

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The Minnesota Thunder, who have struggled all season to find goals, now have scored 6 in their last 3 games on the road. The Thunder never gave up and battled hard as they drew the game with the Rochester Rhinos, coming from behind in the 90th minute with a goal by Jeremiah Bass. The game ended as a 3-3 draw.

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Press Release - Blaine, MN - Minnesota Thunder 07/18/09

Thunder Outlast Austin Aztex 1-0

Lightning Tie Cleveland Internationals 1-1 in Final Match of the 2009 Campaign

BLAINE, Minn. (Saturday, July 18, 2009) - The Thunder are on their first two game winning streak in USL league play of the 2009 campaign with a win over the Austin Aztex 1-0.

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Press Release - Blaine, MN - Minnesota Thunder 07/18/09

Thunder Outlast Austin Aztex 1-0

Lightning Tie Cleveland Internationals 1-1 in Final Match of the 2009 Campaign

BLAINE, Minn. (Saturday, July 18, 2009) - The Thunder are on their first two game winning streak in USL league play of the 2009 campaign with a win over the Austin Aztex 1-0.

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This is our second of four posts in review of the moves DC United has made since the end of last season. Last week we looked at their acquisitions, today we'll look at the players who departed, and then later we'll look at their trades.
1. It's hard to imagine how different DC United's season would be had they retained Marcelo Gallardo in 2009. Click to continue reading...

Tonight, the Kansas City Wizards take on the Minnesota Thunder at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. The game kicks off at 7:35 p.m. CT and can be seen live online at www.USLlive.com. We will also be providing a live running commentary from the match here at Hillcrest Road. With just over an hour before kickoff, the lineups are now in. Click to continue reading...

The Minnesota Thunder seem to be gaining momentum and breaking out of the team's dismal start. The Thunder defeated the Chicago Fire PDL team 4-0 on a rain-soaked Tuesday evening that saw Brian Cvilikas continue his hot streak with another goal. The win means the Thunder will now host the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer June 30, after advancing to the third round of the US Open Cup.

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Baldomero Toledo booking a Red Bull player while Clint Mathis and a teammate play Simon Says.
Here are some thoughts on Saturday's Chicago-DC match I attended that have been percolating since the weekend:

• I don't think I've seen a match this season where the dissonance between the quality of play and the quality of officiaitng was greater than on Saturday.

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6/9/09 - Thunder Advance to Second Round of Lamar Hunt US Open Cup by Topping 402 3-2

BLAINE, Minn. (Tuesday, June 9, 2009) - Thunder move forward to the second round of the US Open Cup with a 3-2 win over 402.
402 took an early lead on the Thunder in the 12th minute of play.

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6/9/09 - Thunder Advance to Second Round of Lamar Hunt US Open Cup by Topping 402 3-2

BLAINE, Minn. (Tuesday, June 9, 2009) - Thunder move forward to the second round of the US Open Cup with a 3-2 win over 402.
402 took an early lead on the Thunder in the 12th minute of play.

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With DC United's comeback 2-1 win over FC Dallas in the books, the Four Fs looks closer...

Forward
While it's hard to quibble too much with two second half goals, that this team ever trailed in this match is troubling. Similar to the New England match, DC United had outplayed its opponent, and still found themselves needing to score to level the match.

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In anticipation of the Thunder home opener, Inside Minnesota Soccer sat down with former DC United and LA Galaxy midfielder Quavas Kirk. I also talked to newcomer and Liberian native Geoffrey Myers as well as former DC United central midfielder, Rod Dyachenko.

Tonight's game is at 7:05 p.m.

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In anticipation of the Thunder home opener, Inside Minnesota Soccer sat down with former DC United and LA Galaxy midfielder Quavas Kirk. I also talked to newcomer and Liberian native Geoffrey Myers as well as former DC United central midfielder, Rod Dyachenko.

***

Tonight's game is at 7:05 p.

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In a sparsely attended game (which may be the worst to take your Dad to as his first professional soccer experience), DCU beat out FCD 2-0, with goals by Fred and Brandon Barklage, who dazzled. Chances were easy to come by, as DC had Dallas goal under siege from the get go.

Fred missed a sitter early in the first half, and Quaranta was not playing his best, despite what Goff's ratings may tell you.

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The Minnesota Thunder will begin their 2009 season Saturday evening in Carry, North Carolina as they take on the revamped Railhawks. The Railhawks underwent front office changes and then hired former USL-2 manager, Martin Rennie. Rennie has reinvented the team with only four players remaining from last years roster.

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At long last, Namoff is officially back in the fold for the 2009 campaign. And while we're raiding Goff's cupboard, let's take a look at some DCU dirt he dug up from Dave Kasper. The big news? (1) We're getting close to landing Walter Martinez and bringing Doe back. They'd both be on loan, but that's pretty close to filling out our forward depth chart. Click to continue reading...

At long last, Namoff is officially back in the fold for the 2009 campaign. And while we're raiding Goff's cupboard, let's take a look at some DCU dirt he dug up from Dave Kasper. The big news? (1) We're getting close to landing Walter Martinez and bringing Doe back. They'd both be on loan, but that's pretty close to filling out our forward depth chart. Click to continue reading...

Coming to you live from Dallas, er, Frisco... actually, I'm in D.C. and my esteemed colleague, Boris Flores, is at Pizza Hut Park today. Regardless, here's the starting lineup the coaches have decided on today.

Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Gonzalo Peralta, Devon McTavish, Ivan Guerrero; Fred, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Boyzzz Khumalo; Jaime Moreno, Luciano Emilio.

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After 60 minutes of this match, I was all ready to come on here and say I was wrong about wanting to punt the CCL. A goalless draw would have been a wonderful result. But as is typical with this club, we let up 2 soft goals off of shotty defending. And now we're staring up from the bottom of a fully stacked group. Click to continue reading...

• If Christian Miles describes something as "courageous" one more time, I'll lose it. I'm definitely adding that to the Christian Miles Drinking Game. One drink for every time he says "courageous", finish your drink when he describes something as amazing when he sounds like he'd rather wear black and listen to Depeche Mode.

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The bad news is that Santino Quaranta will not be dressing tonight. The 23-year old suffered some pretty deep bruises on his ankle and shin Saturday night in LA and will be held out this evening. Bummer.

The good news is that the guys are all feeling pretty positive and will be coming out in a slightly more defensive-oriented posture tonight, running at type of 4-4-1-1.

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By definition, the Donnety award goes to the player who has been the biggest disappointment this year. Yes, harsh, I know. But this award's definition could probably be interpreted in a couple different ways. And because I love controversy, of course I will leave that interpretation up to you. Do you give the award to a guy who has played well at times, but hasn't lived up to the hype or to his high salary? Click to continue reading...

And here.. we... go..

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Boyzzz Khumalo, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Craig Thompson; Luciano Emilio, Ryan Cordeiro

Bench: Louis Crayton, Rod Dyachenko, Francis Doe, Quavas Kirk, Jaime Moreno, Fred, Greg Janicki

And here's what the 4-4-2 will look like:

-----------Cordeiro------------Emilio------------- --------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------Quaranta----------------------- Thompson------------------------------Khumalo ----------------------Simms------------------------- Martinez-----------------------------------Namoff -------------Burch---------McTavish------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------Wells-------------------------- Click to continue reading...

And here.. we... go..

Zach Wells; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Boyzzz Khumalo, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Craig Thompson; Luciano Emilio, Ryan Cordeiro

Bench: Louis Crayton, Rod Dyachenko, Francis Doe, Quavas Kirk, Jaime Moreno, Fred, Greg Janicki

And here's what the 4-4-2 will look like:

-----------Cordeiro------------Emilio-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Quaranta-----------------------Thompson------------------------------Khumalo----------------------Simms-------------------------Martinez-----------------------------------Namoff-------------Burch---------McTavish--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Wells-------------------------- Click to continue reading...

We're about an hour from kick-off and Tom Soehn has named his starters for this evening's match. Most notable are Boyzzz Khumalo getting the start up top with Jaime Moreno and Quavas Kirk getting his first League start at right mid. Here's the full squad:

Louis Crayton; Bryan Namoff, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Gonzalo Martinez; Quavas Kirk, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, Ivan Guerrero; Boyzzz Khumalo, Jaime Moreno.

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So Moreno is hanging out with Butch and Sundance, and Emilio's hurt, and I'm thinking, "Well, with Crayton in goal and the steadying presence of Bryan Namoff, Peralta and the new infusion of energy from Joe Vide, perhaps we can eek out a goal on a counter while keeping San Jose at nil." Except, of course, we have neither Namoff nor Vide nor Peralta, and Martinez was clearly watching his "Best of Facundo Erpen" highlight reel.

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In a match where we were missing Emilio, Moreno, Namoff, Fred, Vide, and Peralta, a loss wasn't necessarily surprising. I guess the bright side is that we escaped without any more injuries! Also, I saw tonight that we've got some young players with a lot of heart, and that's got to count for something, even if it didn't earn us any points. Click to continue reading...

No Namoff. No Peralta. No Olsen. No Fred. No Moreno. No Emilio. No matter.

Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup for tonight's match in San Jose. These are the men charged with bringing a result back to the Nation's Capital:

Louis Crayton; Gonzalo Martinez, Devon McTavish, Marc Burch, Mike Zaher; Santino Quaranta, Clyde Simms, Rod Dyachenko, Marcelo Gallardo, Ivan Guerrero; and Francis Doe.

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D.C. United withstood a strong challenge from the Charleston Battery on Wednesday night at RFK Stadium to claim the U.S. Open Cup by a score of 2-1, the second time in history that the club from the nation's capital has lifted the Dewar Trophy, having also won in 1996.
It didn't take long for the home side to pull ahead, with last year's MLS MVP Luciano Emilio striking just four minutes into the match. Click to continue reading...

I barely get into the house and it's 1-1 in the Open Cup final. Luciano Emilio scores for DC, and gets hurt. Charleston responds in the 10th minute with a nice finish after some sloppy defending. We have ourselves a match, ladies and gentlemen.
I bet Charleston would've done better in the CONCACAF Champions League than New England did. Click to continue reading...

Tom Soehn has named his starting lineup for tonight's championship battle against the Battery. The same players who started Saturday's game against New York will take the field, with the only change being Santino Quaranta moving to the middle of thte park and Joe Vide pushing out wide (where they played the second half).

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United fans who took in last night's game at Momo's Sports Bar on U Street received a surprise when Ben Olsen and housemate Zach Wells, along with Rod Dyachenko, showed up to watch the guys take on the Revolution. Thanks to Sarah Baker for snapping and sharing the shot above.

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I considered making the hour drive to RFK on Sunday morning to see the DC Reserves in action, but decided to play an impromptu game of tennis for the first time in 8 years against by brother-in-law. The good news: I still got it. The bad news: The Reserves lost.
But just in reading the summary of the match, there are several juicy tidbits that could have an impact on the first team:
1. Click to continue reading...